After clearing and stabilization

Hello all,

I am new to wine making and I recently purchased a kit from wine expert vintners reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. I degassed while clearing and stabilizing two weeks ago and should be testing for clarity today before bottling according to the instructions. I noticed that there is some kind of foam on top of the wine and I'm not sure if it was not degassed properly or if there is bacterial growth or if it is normal. I have attached a photo, please let me know if this is normal or I need to correct the wine.

Thank you

First off, I resized your pic because it is just too difficult to read what you wrote with that huge of a pic. I would say you just need to degassed some more, I doubt very much that you have a bacterial growth going on.

Do yourself a huge favor and don't bottle it yet. If you must, buy a 5 gallon carboy, bottle 5 bottles and age the rest for at the very least 3-4 months. I think you'll find when openning one of the bottles you will not be pleased. But don't be discouraged it will get better.

Rule number 1 with wine kits - Time increments indicated within instructions are for "IDEAL" circumstances. The time to wait from adding campden tablets/k-meta powder until pitching the yeast (IF that is called for) are about the only solid time line items you can really rely on.

I would rack the wine and add sulfate. be sure it will work okay. wait until wine clears, do taste test if okay then bottle.

Thank you everyone for your insight, I really appreciate it. I think I will rack the wine into another carboy and add sufate. And wait some more time before bottling. While waiting should I keep the airlock on or add a solid bung?

Keep the airlock on, it will be fine. Don't rush. Roy

salcoco said:

I would rack the wine and add sulfate. be sure it will work okay. wait until wine clears, do taste test if okay then bottle.

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Kal said:

Thank you everyone for your insight, I really appreciate it. I think I will rack the wine into another carboy and add sufate. And wait some more time before bottling. While waiting should I keep the airlock on or add a solid bung?

Click to expand...

I'm sure that these are just typos; however, please do not add sulfate.

The proper product is sulfite, specifically potassium (or sodium) metabisulfite.

Steve

I am always glad to see a message from @cpfan ! Good to see you back on WMT.

Steve,

Yes those are typos thank you for correcting me.